


Pale Lightning Unfettered

by junko



Series: The Hardest Lesson [5]
Category: Bleach
Genre: F/M, M/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-20
Updated: 2012-05-20
Packaged: 2017-11-05 16:54:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/408764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junko/pseuds/junko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tapping his new found reistsu, Byakuya faces his grandfather.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pale Lightning Unfettered

Given that Ginrei Kuchiki could well be on his way, Byakuya planned to keep Fuschida knocked out for the next day or so. Even though that meant that Fuschida might soil himself in his sleep. Still, Byakuya reasoned that the room could hardly grow any fouler. However, when he returned from the garden, Byakuya discovered Fuschida was gone.

An icy spike a fear stabbed Byakuya deep in the gut.

How could Fuschida have awoken from the hakufuku so quickly? More importantly, did he realize he’d been enchanted?

Only when the bottles on the floor clanked together did Byakuya realize the miniature storm of reistsu his agitation created. He took a deep, calming breath, and reminded himself that it didn’t matter where Fuschida had run off to. The only thing that was important is what Byakuya would do when he came back.

There was no reason he couldn’t wait patiently for Fuschida to return, and deal with whatever came next. Byakuya had nothing to fear from that man any more. One way or the other this would all be over by tomorrow.

Though, Byakuya decided, if he must live the rest of his life as a Shihōin retainer, then he would take great pleasure in killing Fuschida before he left. He had a pleasant vision of stabbing him with a thousand swords.

In the meantime, however, he’d clean this room. It would give him something to do.

 

#

 

He’d made a small dent in the detritus when a soft, shy hand knocked on the door. From the other side, he heard Hisana’s quavering voice, “Mr. Fuschida?”  
Byakuya slid open the door. “I’m alone.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” she breathed. She looked ready to collapse into his chest in relief, but held back. “I, uh, felt something and thought maybe… well, I’m glad you’re okay. Won’t you come down? We’ll be serving tea in a few minutes.”

Byakuya glanced down at his rough kimono. He was underdressed for a tea ceremony by far. “If the host can forgive my dress,” he admitted. “I suppose there’s no harm in it.”

#

 

However, it turned out that tea was a much less formal affair at the inn than it was in the Kuchiki household. Though Byakuya still bowed deeply to his host on entering, there was no bowl in which to wash his hands or any of the usual ceremony. He felt a little out of place until Hisana smiled at him and showed him to a spot between the merchant and the landlady.

There were sweets set out already, and no one waited on the hostess, but instead helped themselves. Drinks and conversation flowed naturally around him. It startled Byakuya to realize that though he’d grown up with so many things, this sort of easy, friendly, casual get-together was completely foreign. He’d experienced nothing like it in his life, and suddenly he felt poorer for it.

“Has Fuschida finally been arrested?” the merchant asked, as the second pot of tea went around the table. “I saw shinigami take him from your room.”

“Shinigami?” Byakuya repeated, nearly choking on a confection. “Are you certain, sir?”

“They’re hard to miss. The uniform kind of stands out around here,” the merchant said with a sly smile. “So—you weren’t there? I was hoping to find out what it was all about. Your master seemed kind of out of it, like he was drunk again, despite the early hour. They had to haul him out between them.”

So, the spell had continued to work, after all.

“If they were truly shinigami, then he’s been taken to the Sixth Division barracks,” Byakuya said with certainty. This whole scene smelled of Ginrei Kuchiki’s hand. “Their captain has business with Fuschida.”

“Isn’t the Sixth Division captain from one of the noble houses? Are you saying that lug Fuschida has acquaintance with someone so powerful the court guard?” The landlady sneered behind her fan. “I find that very difficult to believe, young man.”

Byakuya bowed his head, “As do I, madam. As do I.”

The merchant cast curious looks at Byakuya for the rest of the tea. He seemed to be puzzling out the mystery of Byakuya’s upper class accent and any connection to the Sixth Division. Gratefully, the conversation never returned to the subject of Fuschida’s disappearance other than the landlady’s disparaging comment that she hoped he forgot his way back.

Unfortunately, Fuschida would return. Byakuya knew that all too soon Fuschida would discover he’d left something of value behind. Even if the Kuchikis showed no further interest in their supposed investment, he’d have an offer from the Shihōin house. Perhaps, Yoruichi followed them even now.

Byakuya wished he could do the same. But, if the captain had given orders to retrieve Byakuya as well, his soldiers would have done so without hesitation. That he had been left behind meant that Ginrei didn’t wish to see him, despite the fact that he was certain to be the main topic of discussion.

A light touch on the thigh broke Byakuya’s reverie. Hisana was looking at him with a concerned, curious expression. “You’re not worried about Fuschida, are you?”

He shook his head at the idea. “I’m just wondering what will come of this new twist of fate.”

 

#

After tea, he and Hisana stayed behind to help clear dishes. The landlady made noises of protest, but gave in easily when Byakuya insisted. When they were alone, he told Hisana everything.

“Of course your grandfather will come!” she insisted, as they put away the last of the dishes in the kitchen cabinets. “Once he hears everything that Fuschida is capable of… well, I can’t imagine that he’d make you stay.”  
Byakuya shook his head sadly. “Ginrei Kuchiki knew exactly what sort of man Yuma Fuschida was when he sold me off like cattle. He very clearly wanted me broken. I wouldn’t be shocked to discover the exact methodology spelled out in specific in the contract.”

“No,” Hisana said, with a stricken look on her face. “No one is that cruel.”

“I wish I shared your conviction, Hisana. We shall see.”

#

 

Byakuya took advantage of Fuschida’s absence and slept. Hisana showed him to a linen storage closet, and he curled up on a top shelf and closed his eyes. Despite his best efforts, the room was still too messy to be comfortable, and it was, no doubt, the first place Fuschida would come looking for him if he returned alone and angry. Tucked away safely, Byakuya fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

#

 

The sound of Fuschida’s shouts woke him. He blinked in the darkness behind closed doors, listening to the angry cries and curses. He was just pulling himself out of the closet, when Hisana came rushing in, breathless.

“You won’t believe it,” she said to him, a lantern swinging in her trembling hands. “Your grandfather is here.”  
“What?” He jumped to the floor, and ran his fingers through his hair. “Has he asked for me himself or sent Fuschida to bring me to him?”

“Wha--? Why does it matter?”

Byakuya said nothing, just squared his shoulders. “Where is Lord Kuchiki?”

“In the courtyard,” Hisana said.

Byakuya approached the courtyard gardens from the servant’s quarters. From the shadow of a doorway, he observed Genrei Kuchiki. The captain stood with a seated officer near the porch to Fuschida’s room. His arms were crossed in front of his chest. The cool moonlight reflected on the white haori and scarf that trailed down his back. Short silver hair made him look like a fox.

Fuschida came out of the room, his face red in the light that spilled from inside. “I told you that little cunt would run.”

“I presume you mean me,” Byakuya said, stepping out from the doorway. “As you can see, I remain.”

“What do you say to the accusation that you’ve broken contract?” Ginrei asked.

Broken contract? Byakuya frowned as he tried to puzzle out what he could possibly have done in Fuschida’s mind that would constitute a breach of… as his fingers touched the rim of the silver bracelet, he understood: _kidō._ “I offer no defense,” Byakuya said simply. “I used hakufuku on Fuschida. Twice. My only regret is not summoning the byakurai when I had the opportunity.”

“The wha--?” Fuschida started, but Ginrei’s raised hand stopped him.

“You’ve clearly learned no humility, child,” Ginrei said. “How dare you show such disrespect for your master?”  
Byakuya’s lips pressed together, and he kept his eyes on the ground. The leaves of the garden’s trees rustled in a sudden wind. “I beg your pardon, my lord, but I’m uncertain why a captain of the court guard feels it necessary to intercede in the business between a master and his apprentice in the middle of the night in a district so far from the capitol.”

“Besides, whatever the hell the kid is supposed of have done Fuschida deserved it,” some brave lodger shouted from a window.

“Oi, shut up, you,” Fuschida said.

“You know why I’m here, Byakuya,” Ginrei said, ignoring the outburst.

Byakuya’s jaw flexed, but he kept his eyes trained on his feet.

The winds picked up. Leaves shook and several tore free from branches, scattering like cherry blossoms in spring.

“You don’t know me well enough for us to be on a first name basis, Lord Kuchiki,” Byakuya said quietly. He held out his wrist with the silver bracelet as though offering it to Ginrei, “However, sir, if you’ve come to put me in my place—“ A tiny explosion of kidō energy snapped the locking mechanism. The cuff opened and fell to the ground. Byakuya’s spiritual energy roared upward in a column of light, suddenly exponentially stronger. “--you’ll need better chains.”


End file.
